A next-generation swarm robot system that can perform tasks such as movement, exploration, and transportation autonomously without separate control has emerged, inspired by swarm organisms like ants.
Professor Kim Ho-young's research team at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, noted on the 12th that they developed a swarm robot called "Link-bot" that can perform various movements through simple connections between particles without sophisticated control, in collaboration with Harvard University. The research results were published in the international journal "Science Advances" on the 9th.
Swarm robots and drones can perform various tasks such as mapping, obstacle avoidance, and object transportation. However, operating swarm robots requires high-performance precision sensors, communication devices, and complex control algorithms. Each individual robot must be equipped with precise location recognition, collision avoidance, and real-time data processing features, and even then, the robots' performance deteriorated sharply in environments where communication was not smooth.
The research team found a clue to solving problems from nature's ant colonies, where simple individuals come together to exhibit complex behaviors known as "emergent collective behavior." The goal is to develop a swarm robot system that moves autonomously without centralized control or sensors.
The Link-bot created by the research team consists of active particles connected in a V-shaped chain structure. As long as movement and rotation between particles are restricted to a simple link structure, the Link-bot moves organically like a single organism, even without separate intelligence. The shape changes and movements of the Link-bot were controlled through geometric adjustments of the link structure.
The research team confirmed that the Link-bot can perform various movements, including moving straight, stopping, and changing direction. It also implemented features to navigate narrow spaces or complex terrains, block gaps in structures, and wrap around external objects for transportation.
The Link-bots cooperated with each other to accomplish tasks that would be difficult for individual entities to perform. In addition, a computational model was developed to precisely analyze the movements of the Link-bots and predict behaviors under various conditions.
Professor Kim Ho-young said, "This research experimentally proved that even with simple changes in link shapes, swarm robots can exhibit emergent behaviors," and "This is expected to present new possibilities for low-cost autonomous soft robotics and next-generation collective intelligence systems."
The research team expressed hopes that advancing the Link-bot could lead to the creation of next-generation swarm robots that could be used in various fields such as disaster relief, rugged terrain transportation, and environmental monitoring.
References
Science Advances(2025), DOI : https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu8326